Many people wear leather on the grounds that it's a byproduct of the meat industry, but the reality looks quite different. An animals skin is one of the most lucrative parts of it's body, which means that for farmers trying to maximise their profit,often the meat actually becomes the byproduct of the leather industry. Leather also has amongst the highest environmental issues thanks to the tanning process, which is often done with chrome, a strong carcinogenic, which is often dumped without filter into drinkable water streams, often supplying entire villages. Livestock per se has one of the highest greenhouse gas emissions, with high levels of CO2 and even methane. However, if leather is ethically sourced and dyed I will make the case for its durability. We do have a lot of vegan leather alternatives, but since they are all still quite new, their durability is still to be tested. In the name of not producing more waste, I find the durability of a product extremely important. With this being said I don't necessarily think we should be buying new leather items and supporting a cruel and toxic industry, but I will make the case for secondhand and vintage leather. I know some hard-core vegans may disagree with me here and refuse to wear it all together, but I think a few things should be considered here. By buying a second-hand piece you are not supporting the leather industry, as money doesn't go into their pockets, you are not producing additional waste by buying something that has already been produced and is in circulation, plus its natural and therefore biodegradable in time. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about leather produced in the past, but I find it would be disrespectful to the animal to throw all of these pieces away instead of buying buying a couple of these pieces and wearing them with love for a lifetime, before passing them on to the next person. However I will say that there is one concern with wearing leather, even when vintage: setting a trend. When certain items become "in fashion" they are suddenly mass produced by every fast fashion retailer on the high street which can be quite scary. But I suppose if we buy quite particular items and always emphasise them being one-of-a-kind vintage finds, maybe we could start getting more people passionate about secondhand clothing!

Let me know what you think in the comments below, would love to hear your opinion as this is quite a tricky topic!

CREDITS: ​Top: from Asos but bought second-hand in a charity shop | Pants: really old from a fast fashion brand, over 300 wears by now | Shoes: old #30wears ballerinas I keep changing the sole of | Suede Vest: vintage from Brick Lane market

THE SUSTAINABILITY FACTOR: This is an outfit of pieces that I've had for the longest time, the white shirt I bought second-hand for £6, proving second-hand shopping is cheaper! And the jacket is a vintage find, #zerowaste!

#30WEARS explore how I have previously worn some of the items in this post

Yesterday morning I was waiting for my train to work, my mind constantly wandering to the exact spot in by backpack where my newest treasure lied. My new book “how to change the world” was ready to be devoured. As soon as I got into the train, fighting my way through sleepy bodies unwilling to move in any sort of direction, I found a seat, opened the backpack looked for my book. As I was pulling it out and re-read the title “How to change the world” it suddenly seemed so shameful. I caught myself trying to hide the cover from any curious eye around me like I was a 16 year-old boy reading a porn magazine for the first time.

Shame Shame Shame.But why? Why did I find this action had to be hidden from the world like I was doing something wrong? Was I?

I continue reading. Chapter 1. “Overcoming Defeatism”.Sentence one. “How can I, one individual in a world of billions, hope to change anything?”

And then it dawned on me - I was hiding the book because I was afraid of being ridiculed. I myself strongly believe every single person can make a change, which I will get into later, but I know most peoples thoughts are of mockery and take up an “as if” tone. I was projecting a thought process I have many times heard people say to me in the past two years: ‘you’re a dreamer’ ‘how can you think you can change anything’ ‘why would you even try, it’s just a waste of time’ ‘change happens from the top’ ‘how to change the world?! Haha like there’s a formula!!’Isn’t it almost a sign that the current system is functional in its play for authority and maintenance of the status quo when a dreamer like me is afraid of showing she wants to change something?

Shame. Shame. Shame.I continue reading.​In Thomas Carlyle’s words, we are taught “history is the biography of great men”. But wouldn’t you agree that those men couldn’t have done the great or bad things they did on their own? Think about it, what determines power? It’s not an act of self-proclamation, but rather something that is given to you and recognized by others.If you look a little closer you will notice that, as Tolstoy put it, an “infinitely larger number of infinitesimally small actions” have made it possible. Everything we do is making history, from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed and even when we are sleeping and not doing nothing. Because during our day we make an infinite amount of decisions that seem so trivial and often even boring to us, for example we choose what peanut butter to buy at the supermarket. Little do we know that, that specific meaningless action is driving deforestation in Indonesia because our peanut butter contains palm oil. It’s just peanut butter after all how can it have any kind of impact on the world! But, if a lot of people stop buying that brand and revert to a different one that doesn’t contain palm oil, the company will change its recipe. Sales are all that matters, and if a product is not selling because of an ingredient I guarantee you it will be changed. Yes, it’s that simple.The same happens for fashion. It only takes some dedication and mindfulness to understand what’s wrong with the systems already in place, resist buying into it, until it has been changed.I should not be ashamed of wanting to change something that I find wrong. If anything maybe the title of my book will inspire thought and conversation in someone else on this mornings commute.

THE SUSTAINABILITY FACTOR:The knit is part of S.Bon's new knitwear line, which is all sustainably produced in Kiev, Ukraine by artisans. And the skirt is one I bought from traid over a year ago and can't stop wearing, as you can see below

#30WEARS explore how I have previously worn some of the items in this post

I’ve been spring cleaning like a crazy person and it’s November. Since I started getting more interested in living a more sustainable lifestyle I’ve gotten allergic to stuff. An overflowing wardrobe was my normality and I didn’t feel anything in particular - not proud to have it and not fulfilled because of it. I didn’t even notice how much stuff I had moved from Milan to London and then accumulated in my three years here until now. About a month ago I dramatically pulled everything out of my closet and decided not to hang anything back in that I wasn’t still in love with. I think I had hoped to put back about 15 items and potentially for the rest to just disappear into thin air so I didn’t have to deal with it, but obviously that didn't happen. Th end scenario was me sitting in a pile of clothes 4 hours later eating a sad meal because I didn’t go grocery shopping that day.The one realisation that I did have was that most of my clothes I had owned since I was 16 and I could not for the life of me see anymore, which to be fair is understandable. I have gone through A LOT of style changes as my Facebook memory’s keeps reminding me of on a daily basis, so it’s only natural that most of them just aren’t ‘me’ anymore. And some of the newer stuff seemed conflicted between two styles, like there was two people getting dressed from that closet. That made me wonder, who am I dressing for? Who or what ‘influences’ my decision to buy a piece these days? I think there are three categories of people you dress for:Dressing for yourself… is probably what you’ve been told you should be doing. But lets be real if I dressed for myself I would wear sweatpants a white T and alternate cozy jumpers, sometimes I’d feel like being fancy I’d wear my favourite dress, red lipstick, jewellery and go. But I don’t (…always), so who the hell am I dressing for?Ps: If I did this I would be so freaking sustainable though ;)

Dressing for the boy (or girl)Haven’t we all been in the place where we change our styles thinking about what he would like and try to be his idea of the perfect girl? Occasionally even wear something we know he wouldn’t appreciate if we feel like we’re not being ourselves enough, ironically making it even more about him. As we mature we might not change our styles completely, but we might sometimes push certain items we’d normally wear to the back of the closet and pull out other ones we might not, possibly try them in combination we had never thought of. We justify the little indiscretion from our normal patterns as ‘exploring facets of our identity’, but that’s most probably just a pride thing as we actually do this specifically FOR that person. Is that so bad though? We could see it as an inspiration to creativeness, and we could all use more of that especially when you have a (semi-) minimalist closet (I didn’t want to use the word ‘sustainable’ but you all know that’s what I meant).However, I am also no stranger to the good old man repeller clothing - I mean if he doesn’t like it, it’s probably AWESOME and different (and not sexy in the traditional sense which is a plus). Which brings me to my next point.

Dressing for other womenSome people might argue that when we are not dressing for a love interest we are dressing for other women. Quite frankly I think I do this a lot more than I care to admit, I have some items in my closet that I am positive most guys would hate and every woman (with a good taste obvs) would love. That often makes me feel more empowered than dressing for a man. Another woman’s validation, especially if you respect their aestethics is almost better than putting on pyjamas you left on the heater all day.

So, who do we dress for? Is dressing for other really so bad if you don’t completely neglect what you love as well? Could it be that we constantly try to juggle between those three categories and finding the balance is actually what makes finding your personal style so hard?

PS.: In case you were wondering (probably not) how my very interesting story about my autumnal spring cleaning ended: I tried selling some of the stuff (Miranda Priestly would kill me for calling it ‘stuff’) online, but none of that really worked, so today I brought a full blue ikea bag of clothes to the charity shop and walked out of there with a new £4 skirt that felt a lot more like me then anything in that bag. I hope one of my items can make someone else feel the same way (#cheesy)!

CREDITS: ​Top: Thoreau Mia Top (I'm obsessed with it) | Pants: Vintage (these are total man repellers right?!) | Shoes: old #30wears ballerinas | Bag: old #30wears from a fast fashion brand I shall not name

THE SUSTAINABILITY FACTOR: The top is by my favourite London-based brand Thoreau, think Reformation for Europe and you can explore the values below and see more items from this brand here. The pants are vintage (from Blitz, near Brick Lane) and the shoes/bag are all WAY beyond #30wears although I don't have photographic evidence from all of them, but you can find some below.

VALUES OF THE BRAND:THOREAUto find out more click here and scroll to 'values' section

#30WEARS explore how I have previously worn some of the items in this post